Princess Veronica
by Zow-Katow
Summary: It's Edward's turn to tell a campfire story, but there's something he just can't get off his mind. LazXEd


It was campfire night at camp kidney, and things were running as usual. Raj had almost devoured a majority of the groups' marshmallows, Sampson was complaining the smoke was making his allergies act up, and Lazlo was wowing the campers with another of his exciting tales.

"...Little did they know, the river actually flowed with... ROOTBEER!!!" He shouted for dramatic effect. Everyone gasped at the amazing story, except one agitated camper.

"...And that's why soda makes you burp!" the spider monkey concluded, giving the "story-rock" one last squeeze before he had to give it up. The camp cheered, they always cheered at Lazlo's stories. This is why Edward hated him. The Platypus was almost seething at how much his peers were gushing over that STUPID monkey. Until that tree-climbing freak came to camp, Edward was the one who got all the attention. He told the best stories, jokes, and played the best games. Then, in danced Lazlo, and suddenly he was trapped in a never-ending battle for camp-favorite.

Now the story stone was passed to Sampson, and he began rambling on about magical nose fairies or something. Edward let himself drift into his own head, but he found he could only think of Lazlo. Lazlo, Lazlo, Lazlo... the monkey wouldn't leave his mind! He had to admit, he did envy him. Jelly cabin always seemed to have more fun than the rest of the camp. Every day was an adventure for them, while Edward was stuck with Chip and Skip... Eeeeewww. The platypus shuddered a little, they were his inspiration to shower every morning.

Lost in thought again, Edward began to wonder whether he envyed Lazlo... or admired him. He IS a great dancer, storyteller, and imagine...er. Not to mention he's always so positive, his glass is permanently half full. And when he smiles, (which is alot) time seemed to stand still, and all there is is Edward, those two gorgeous green eyes, and a that wonderful smile... Wait... what was he thinking??!! Gorgeous green eyes?? Well... they were okay...

"Pssst, Edward, why is your face so red?" Dave elbowed the platypus from where he was sitting. Oh, no blushing? All of Edward's brothers had told him that happens when you like a girl. But, there were no girls around, an he had just been thinking about...

"Lazlo." he muttered quietly to himself, blushing harder than ever.

"You're face is red because of Lazlo?" Dave asked looking quizzically at his brother, PIng-pong.

"Uuuh... no!" Edward had to cover, "The heat from the fire is getting to me, I think I should go to bed--"

"But Edward!!!" Lazlo jumped up to protest, holding out a worn looking rock, "You haven't told a story yet!"

Edward stared at the monkey like a deer in headlights. Right... a story. He was usually pretty good at telling horrific stories that made the campers leap off their logs... but right now all he could think about was that stupid idiotic--

"Well are you going to tell a story or not!" muffles Raj through a mouthful of marshmallows. Edward swallowed hard, he would just have to make the best of it.

"Well, um, once upon a time, there was this..." He couldn't say boy, what's a good girl's name? "... girl named," he paused, "Veronica. And she was in love with a handsome... funny... um, prince... with a great smile" he trailed off into his own thoughts, but quickly snapped back into reality, "and his name was, uh, la--" Lazlo shot him a funny look, "Lance, his name was Lance."

Everyone around the fire seemed to be pleased with the story so far, they were always softies for feel-good stories. Chip asked a question:

"So, what, did they get married?"

"Sadly, they could not." Edward said dramatically, egging on his audience. "For Prince Lance could only marry a princess, and though Veronica was well off," he smiled to himself, "the two were not allowed to be together."

Everyone gasped, Sampson pleaded to the sky, "life can be so cruel" before taking a puff on his inhaler.

"Veronica had to find a way to become a princess so she could win the heart of her beloved prince. Her four stepbrothers would try to offer her advice," the platypus looked down distractedly, "but they were more versed in winning the hearts of princesses..." everyone nodded, except Lazlo, who seemed very concentrated, as if trying to solve Veronica's problem for her.

"Veronica decided she must go tell Prince Lance how she felt, but when she arrived at Jelly castle... i _Geller /i _, it's french" Edward explained quickly before everyone had time to think, "when she arrived at the castle, it was guarded by ferocious killer elephants and rhinos!!"

"Aaah!" Raj almost choked out of fright.

"Raj... you ARE an elephant, remember?" Lazlo reminded his friend.

"Yes, but I am not a KILLER elephant!" he gave a shiver and went back to roasting marshmallows.

Edward continued his story, "Veronica decided to wait until the dead of night to confess her love to the prince. She climbed up the vines that grew on the side of the castle--"

"That seems a little farfetched to me, vines?" Dave began to analyze, "Vines growing on the side of a castle could not support the weight of a person."

"The vines were freaking magical!" snapped the platypus, clenching his fists, he calmed a bit and went on, "She climbed through the window and awoke prince Laz... Lance, Prince Lance, from his slumber. Veronica told him she had had hidden emotions towards the prince for some time now..."

The silence became thick, only the crackling fire and Raj's sticky chewing seemed to break it. The whole camp needed to know the prince's reaction, they needed the couple to live happily ever after. Edward couldn't tell them everything ended okay, he didn't even know the ending himself.

Suddenly Lazlo's high-pitched voice cut through the soundless void, "The prince was surprised, he hadn't realized Veronica felt this way about him. He and Veronica had always been friends..." he faltered, "somewhat, but he had never considered she may actually like... or love him."

The beans became excited, a two-person story?! Not to mention it was being told be the two coolest and best storytellers on this side of leaky lake!

Edward realized what just happened, Lazlo had figured it out. Of course, how could he be so stupid? Lazlo was the only one who knew about Veronica... and he had practically given it away with the whole killer elephant thing. He had to respond, "Prince Lance completed Veronica, without him... she had nothing. She didn't think much of this beyond a friendship for many years... then she started to notice how warm she felt whenever he smiled."

"Prince Lance felt the same when Veronica smiled, which was a rare occasion." Lazlo returned dialogue.

"Veronica would never admit these feelings, she's never be accepted."

"All the prince ever wanted was for Veronica to be happy, but tormenting the prince seemed to be the only thing that made her smile."

"Veronica apologized for being so mean, she had only done it to hide the truth."

"The prince accepted her apology and asked her what the truth was!"

"V- Ver... Veronica admitted her deep, undying love for the prince..." Edward finally admitted. He looked at his feet, his face glowing a deep red.

Lazlo simply sat there, too stunned to move. Then he smiled big, his eyes bright and said, "The prince asked Veronica to marry him, and be his princess for all eternity!" The sullen platypus looked up, wearing the same expression the monkey had a moment earlier. He stared deep into his eyes, and soon Edward wore the same expression Lazlo had on now, a smile from ear to ear. Only with a large splash of red across his face.

"And they all lived happily ever after," Lazlo finished the story with the familiar fairy tale line, and everyone sighed on their logs, positioning themselves back from the edge of their seats. The two storytellers simply remained locked in an unbreakable gaze, sea-green eyes melting into midnight-blue.

As the campfire slowly flickered out and the campers began making their way back to their cabins for bed, Lazlo was searching for Edward. He had to talk to him, for gosh sakes he has just confessed his love to him! But the platypus was making a point to avoid Lazlo for as long as he could. His face was still redder than Samson's skin rash and he was sweating like Lumpus during inspection. He had to escape, maybe the monkey would forget the whole thing.

"Hey! Edward!"

Fat chance.

"Edward, please, we need to talk." Lazlo had caught up to him and put a hand on his shoulder, making the boy tense up.

The spider-monkey pulled him out of sight and earshot from the other campers, Edward was gonna have to explain himself.

"Listen, Laz--" He was cut off by a kiss. Lazlo was pulling on his shirt, pulling him towards his body. He could feel his face heat up.

After a long moment the two broke apart, staring into eachothers' eyes like they had earlier.

"I love you," Edward breathed.

"I love you too, Princess Veronica." he said jokingly and kissed him again.


End file.
